tonight at 10 — the uk's highest daily coronavirus death toll since the start of the pandemic. more than 1,300 people have died. another record number of new cases too, as hospitals across the uk struggle to cope. in london, a major incident has been declared. the brother of a 36—year—old man who died on sunday while they were self—isolating together, urges everyone young and old to take the virus seriously. we believed we were of an age where it's not going to affect us. we didn't take the appropriate action and ifound him dead in his sleep the following morning at about six o'clock. long queues in the cold for a covid vaccine, as a third jab — moderna — is given the go—ahead in the uk.

also on the programme tonight. cleaning up capitol hill — president trump says he won't attend joe biden‘s inauguration despite promising a peaceful transition. he indicated he was not going to show up at the inauguration. one of the few things he and i have ever agreed on. the former first minister of scotland alex salmond accuses nicola sturgeon of misleading parliament. these women were stopped and fined by police after driving five miles to go for a walk in derbyshire. how far can you travel in england to exercise in lockdown? and the biggest mismatch in fa cup history. the pe teacher and refuse collector among the non—league team marine preparing for their tie against tottenham. and coming up on bbc news, without their entire senior squad because of covid cases, aston villa's youngsters take on liverpool for a place in the fourth round of the fa cup.

good evening. the uk has recorded the highest daily coronavirus death toll since the start of the pandemic. 1,325 more people have lost their lives. to add to that grim figure, a record number of new cases, more than 68,000 positive tests were recorded in the past 2a hours. hospitals across the uk are now under severe pressure, with some treating many more patients than during the first peak in april. london and the south east of england are currently being hit the hardest, with one senior nhs leader saying the situation is off the scale, calling it a winter crisis like no other he has ever seen. here's our health editor hugh pym. two brothers enjoying a swim on a foreign holiday. exactly a year later, one of them died with covid—19.

he was a big chap, there's no denying that but he could swim all day long. you know, he was running on christmas day. james remembers his brother david, who was 36. they both tested positive and were isolating but david's condition worsened overnight and he didn't survive. we were going to sit there and rough it out. well, it didn't work for us. my advice would be, i don't want to scaremonger people and i don't want to be dramatic but i think people, if you are in that situation, if you are sat at home and you are starting to really struggle for breath, ring 111. a postmortem will try to establish whether there were other factors in david's death. as more lives are lost and case numbers increase, london's mayor has declared a major incident, with a call forfinancial support from the government. hospitals are so busy that ambulances are delayed handing over patients, with waiting times up 36% in the south—east in december,

according to data leaked to bbc news. covid patient numbers are rising in other regions. extra staff have been drafted into this intensive care unit in wolverhampton, including dental specialists. i didn't really think about how hard it would be, in patient roles, to end—of—life. it's somebody‘s loved one. and this nottinghamshire hospital says the pressure is intensifying. we are beginning to see that huge increase that london has seen. so we have got 160 patients with covid in our organisation, nearly double the number we saw in the first wave. critical care is exceptionally busy and the colleagues who work here are tired, they're fatigued and they are worn out. the latest survey of community infections by the office for national statistics suggests that last week in northern ireland, one in 200 people had the virus, with case rates no longer

decreasing. in scotland, it was one in 115, with case numbers on the increase. in wales, one in 70, although case rates were coming down. in england, one in 50 had the virus, with case numbers on the increase. the worst affected area was london with one in 30. the latest r number range, 1—1.li, was higher than the previous estimate. anything above one suggests the virus is accelerating. vaccinations continue, though there was a long queue and waits in the cold for people in priority groups invited to this clinic for theirjabs. it was confirmed that a third vaccine has been approved by regulators. it is made by the us company moderna, and the government has ordered 17 million doses, although they are unlikely to be available before the spring. right now, senior health officials are focused on the spread of the virus. they are worried there are more people out and about than during the first lockdown, and they think there could be more than 100,000 new infections per day, including those who have

not been tested. hugh pym, bbc news. well, let's look at the latest government figures in detail. there were 68,053 new coronavirus cases recorded in the latest 24—hour period. the average number of new cases reported per day in the last week, is now 59,3114. hospital admisisons keep climbing. on average, there were 28,756 covid—19 patients in hospital in the last week. and today's record death toll, 1,325 deaths, that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. it means on average in the past week, 809 deaths were announced every day. it takes the total number of deaths so far across the uk to 79,833. 0ur medical editor fergus

walsh is with me now. they are truly terrible figures and the awful thing is, it's going to get worse? it will, sophie, there are now 31,000 covid patients in hospital across the uk, that is up 50% since christmas day and 10,000 higher than at their peak in april. and coronavirus cases are surging. that has yet to show up in the hospital data because of the lag between infection and people falling seriously ill. so the number of deaths seems certain to keep on rising. i have seen first hand this week the pressure is in intensive care, their stress on staff is greater than at any time in this pandemic. but there is hope. a third covid vaccine approved today, the moderna jab is 95% effective against covid disease. the immunisation programme with the oxford and pfizer jabs will be ramped up from monday

but more than 2 million people per week we'll need to be immunised if the target of 15 million being offered the jab is to be reached by mid—february. difficult weeks ahead. the numbers in hospital won't start to fall u nless the numbers in hospital won't start to fall unless people behave like they did during the first lockdown, keeping their distance from others and washing their hands. tonight, the prime minister said, he urged, he said compliance is now more vital than ever and urged people to stay at home and protect the nhs. thank you. for the most sick — those whose lungs have not been helped by a ventilator — there is another alternative. it's called ecmo — they're specialist intensive care life support machines which pump oxygen into the patient‘s blood, allowing the lungs to rest. there are only six nhs centres in the uk that offer the treatment to a few dozen patients. but now they're under pressure to take on more. 0ur health correspondent sophie hutchinson has been given rare access to an ecmo unit at the royal papworth

hospital in cambridge. they are the sickest patients we've ever seen, even for patients on ecmo. is everybody ready? the patients are very poorly and in bigger numbers than we have ever had them. these are among the very sickest patients with covid—19 in the country. and this ward is their last hope. their lungs are so damaged by the disease that even ventilators haven't helped, and they've come here for the rarest form of life support from a machine known as ecmo. ecmo stands for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. it allows these patients to breathe without using their lungs, giving their lungs a vital rest, so that they can recover. this ecmo centre was set up following the swine flu outbreak in 2009,

but the coronavirus pandemic is now stretching it almost to the limit. normally on this ward, they have three patients on ecmo, but because of the pandemic and the damage that covid—19 does to the lungs, they have many more. in fact, each of these rooms has a patient on ecmo in it. they say they have 18 patients here today, and they've described it as a super surge. i know there is a limit that we will reach. i have no idea when that limit will be there. by continuing, extending, extending, there will be a cracking point. hello, how can i help? and as well as treating patients, staff are working around the clock, fielding calls from other hospitals. there are a maximum of around 100 ecmo beds in the uk, but there have been 3,000 requests for patient referrals. it is relentless. patient after patient after patient. they take a long time to get better.

they are the sickest patients we've ever seen, even for patients on ecmo. you know, they're not old patients, they are a younger cohort. and so it is... it is really, really difficult. and we are all, at times, finding it quite overwhelming. is everybody ready? yeah. ready, steady, roll. some patients are in their 20s and 30s. most are older. they have to be strong enough to withstand ecmo and the work looking after them is gruelling. it's very difficult, it's very difficult, things are very intense. the patients are very poorly, poorlier than we've probably ever seen them and in bigger numbers than we've ever had them. it is a lot to deal with. we haven't got the staffing numbers to cope with the amount of patients that we have but we are doing what we can for the patients that we have with the time that we have. towards the end of our filming, another two patients arrived on the ward. staff are proud that everyone

who meets the criteria for ecmo has, so far, been offered a bed here. but this extra pressure was hard to handle. we are not as resilient this time as we were last time, because we've really had no downtime, so to speak. but we still do it, because that's what we do. and what they're doing is saving lives. through their dedication and determination, perhaps more than half of these patients will eventually awake and go home to their loved ones. sophie hutchinson, bbc news. president trump has announced he won't be attending the inauguration of his successor, joe biden, just hours after promising a peaceful transition. he will become the first us president to miss the ceremony in more than 150 years. butjoe biden said his decision was a good thing, one of the only things they'd ever agreed on. he said president trump was an embarrassment to the country.

0ur north america editor jon sopel reports. the words "horse" and "stable door" come to mind, as contractors are brought in to erect some proper security around the capitol hill complex. so alarmingly and easily breached by the trump supporting mob on wednesday night. and the repercussions are still being felt. last night, a chastened and tense president spoke words that had clearly been written for him. i would like to begin by addressing the heinous attack... the change of tone and substance in just 2a hours is startling, whiplash—inducing. as they say on school essays, "compa re and contrast". we're going to walk down to the capitol... we have just been through an intense election and emotions are high, but now tempers must be cooled and calm restored. you'll never take back our country with weakness. you have to show strength

and you have to be strong. like all americans, i am outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem. the demonstrators who infiltrated the capitol have defiled the seat of american democracy. so, go home, we love you, you're very special... to those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction — you do not represent our country. we had an election that was stolen from us, it was a landslide election... a new administration will be inaugurated on january 20th. my focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power. this moment calls for healing and reconciliation. but from the reactivated presidential twitter account today, an unsurprising statement. not thatjoe biden

is shedding any tears. that's what i am looking forward to — him leaving office. i was told that, on the way over here, that he indicated he wasn't going to show up at the inauguration. one of the few things he and i have ever agreed on. it's a good thing, him not showing up. in the wake of the riots and the president's incendiary words, he's faced multiple resignations and the threat of removalfrom office. that explains the astonishing volte—face from donald trump last night. he had no option. and there's this. just before he spoke, it was confirmed that one of the capitol policemen, brian sicknick, had died from injuries he received while trying to hold the rioters at bay. today, it was ordered that flags should fly at half—mast in his honour, but they're also flying at half—staff for american democracy.

just 12 days left of president trump's term in office but a lot can happen in 12 days. it's going to be a very long 12 days, because you can see already that the democrats are planning to draw up articles of impeachment, to impeach him a second time in the house. apparently this is being planned when the raid on the congress was taking place and they are going to accuse donald trump of intention to cause an insurrection. so that is that. there's also nancy pelosi, the speaker of the house, she has been in touch with the commander of the us military to say that the president should be stripped of the nuclear codes because he is not a reliable person. you've got the white house saying that this is going to sew further division. there are republicans saying he ought to go. so that is the next 12 days. we don't know what donald trump might don't know what donald trump might do or say next. last night he was an autocue. he might let rip if he's not. there's a lot of uncertainty.

but let's look at where we are right now because this has been a week of turbulence in a way that american history has not seen before. yesterday, 4000 people died in one day of covid, the highest single total. today, thejobless totals have gone up, as well as that we've seen have gone up, as well as that we've seen the assault on congress. americans are divided stop they are angry. this is donald trump ‘s legacy but it's alsojoe biden's inheritance. jon sopel, thank you. the former first minister of scotland alex salmond has accused nicola sturgeon of misleading parliament, calling her evidence to the inquiry into the handling of sexual harassment claims made against him "simply untrue". mr salmond's comments emerged in a written submission to an investigation into whether ms sturgeon breached the ministerial code. the first minister says she "entirely rejects mr salmond's claims". 0ur scotland correspondent lorna gordon is in glasgow tonight.

this written submission by mr salmond is potentially explosive. it contains damning accusations and shows just how far apart these once close political allies, alex salmond and nicola sturgeon, now are. in the submission mr salmond alleges state m e nts submission mr salmond alleges statements nicola sturgeon made to the scottish parliament are in his words are simply untrue. he goes on to claim that parliament has been repeatedly misled on a number of occasions about a meeting involving both of them in 2018. he also claims the first minister allowed the scottish government to pursue the civil case against him despite having legal advice that it was likely to collapse. well, labour have described these as bombshell accusations while the scottish conservatives have said that if the claims are proved to be correct it would be a resignation matter and said the allegations point to shocking deliberate and corrupt actions at the heart of the scottish government. well, this evening a

spokesperson for nicola sturgeon said mr salmond was trying to malign the reputation of the first minister with false conspiracy theories and said the first minister entirely rejects mr salmond's claims about the ministerial code. both mr salmond and miss sturgeon will give evidence in person to the committee looking into the scottish government's handling of harassment complaints against him in the next few weeks. lorna gordon, thank you. one of the biggest problems for both the nhs and care homes during this pandemic is staff shortages — with so many off work because they're sick or self—isolating. some care services across the country have reported shortages of as much as 50%. the national care forum, which represents not—for—profit care providers, describe it as an important early warning of the mounting pressure within the care sector. alison holt reports. morning, lynne. each morning, here at the glastonbury care home in somerset, there's one question on the lips of staff. any new cases? yes. no! four more cases.

really? three staff, one resident, including a nurse. oh, no, no! i know. the home had its first coronavirus cases at christmas, and since then, with the virus spreading rapidly in the community, regular testing is picking up more and more staff with the virus, often without symptoms. more than ten residents tested positive, 25% of staff tested positive, and we came in a situation where we lost staff from their shifts. here, a quarter of the staff are either sick or self—isolating, leaving the rest working extra—long hours to fill in the gaps. it's quite difficult when you have residents test positive and also staff members test positive, and. . .we just keep going. we find it very emotional at the moment, because these are our second family. we care deeply about all the residents, but we are losing them. the care is still there, but, their boss says, like many other homes,

they are under huge pressure. we are doing everything we can in terms of infection control. we know we're doing the best on that, but we are fighting something which is, you know, very, very virulent. i think, for all of us, i just want to protect those staff who are doing everything they can and being so courageous. the national care forum, which represents not—for—profit care providers, says they're hearing from residential and nursing homes across the country who are struggling with staff shortages. a few have lost 40% or 50% of their staff. martin mcguigan runs dementia care homes in the north of england and scotland. we've got a service with 90 colleagues that's currently in an outbreak. and 36 of those colleagues have tested positive for covid. it means they are also asking remaining staff to do all they can to help. the reality is, it is the toughest it's ever been. yeah, it's that simple. it was really difficult, march, april, may, but this is as bad as it's been in terms of what we are having to deal with, this new variant etc. but, this time, we have

the hope of the vaccine, and that is the thing that is keeping our colleagues going. for many, it underlines the importance of vaccinating staff and residents as soon as possible, particularly if they are to do what they can to help overstretched hospitals. alison holt, bbc news. from next week anyone entering the uk, whether you live here or not, will have to have tested negative for covid—19 no more than three days before arriving here. children under 11, lorry drivers and travel from ireland will be exempt, but passengers from countries not on the uk's approved list will still have have to quarantine when they arrive. the lockdown in wales is to remain in place for at least another three weeks. the first minister mark drakeford has also warned some measures may need to be strengthened. he said that unless there was a "significant" drop in cases soon, school and college students were likely to continue their education online until the february half—term.

officials say the number of people with coronavirus in hospital in scotland is now higher than it was at the peak of the first wave in april. the total is 1,530, compared with 1,520 last spring. the number of deaths registered yesterday is 93, the highest daily total during the second wave of the virus. in northern ireland new lockdown restrictions have come into force, forbidding people from leaving home for non—essential reasons. people can be ordered home by the police if they do not have a "reasonable excuse" for being out. the law's in place until february the sixth, but will be reviewed later this month. two women have been describing how they were surrounded by police in derbyshire, and fined £200, after they drove five miles for a walk by a reservoir. current guidance says you can travel for exercise in england as long as it is in your "local area".

tonight derbyshire police said they are reviewing the fines issued in this period. phil mackie reports. eliza moore and jessica allen, friends whose businesses have shut because of lockdown, decided to brave the cold and go for a socially—distanced walk to try to keep their spirits up. unfortunately, their trip to a nearby reservoir has earned them each a £200 fine. derbyshire police have been stopping people who were driving to beauty spots because they say it's a breach of covid regulations. jessica says she thought they were following the rules to the letter. we take these guidelines really seriously. my brother's a doctor who works on a covid ward. you know, my parents have both had it. you know, we are trying to follow the rules. we haven't come out wanting to break the law, we haven't had a party, there isn't five of us. we've simply come to what we thought was the safest place. derbyshire police were accused in the first lockdown of being too heavy—handed after flying drones over walkers in the peak district. today, officers have been out again, telling people to go home. i've been coming to this park for most of my life. just out for daily exercise and i've

been turned away by the police. the difficulty is in the interpretation of the rules. derbyshire police has released a statement in which it seems to say that if you have to drive somewhere to take exercise, then that's not local. and they've also said that it's very much at the discretion of individual officers as to whether or not to issue fines. there can't be a grey area when it comes to what people are allowed to do, because this really is a lifeline for some people. so, you know, for people that are struggling, they don't then need to be going out and thinking, am i going to be approached by the police for this? you know, we need to know in black and white what is allowed, what is accepted. eliza and jessica say they'll contest the fines. with the outlook bleak, mental and physical health remain critically important. phil mackie, bbc news. a week after the uk formally left the eu, the cabinet minister michael gove says he expects "significant additional disruption" in the coming weeks as businesses get used to new export

rules after brexit. a number of companies, including marks & spencer and parcel firm dpd, say they're experiencing problems with paperwork. seafood exporters say they're also having problems, with some catches being left to rot. here's our economics editor faisal islam. the fishing industry is supposed to be one of the great brexit winners, but in the first weeks of trade many exporters of fish from every corner of the uk to the eu, say they've been struggling with new rules and red tape. we're not going to get the paperwork done in time. we've been inundated with paperwork. we have the catch certificate, the health certificate, the vat, which is what is holding us up and the reason why we cannot buy this week, plus the import duties. at the moment we're stuffed. this scottish fishing business has stopped sending boats out and started furloughing workers after new red tape and checks

halted its european exports. unfortunately we've had to stop our boats from fishing, so just to save any other exposures to further losses, so we've had to stop that and we're having to actually furlough a lot of staff. it's notjust fish, some courier companies have paused their european road service, saying 20% of parcels have incomplete data, for example new customs forms. that's a problem for this queen's export award—winning popcorn business. well, previously it was really simple. there was no complexity at all with sending our popcorn overseas into europe. now, paperwork requirements are higher, but also there's a lot of uncertainty with the shipping companies that we're using as to what documentation you do and don't need. they don't want to be stuck with any of our parcels in their warehouses or on their lorries. so they're returning some? yeah. we've been getting parcels sent delivered into the local depots, being brought back and dropped off behind me, as part of this process.

right now these issues do not amount to a economy—wide disruption seen at major ports, for example, but nor are theyjust teething problems that are going to go away in the next few days. the government chose to prioritise regulatory freedom from the eu and not the existing free flow of goods with the european union. that has consequences. we are starting to see them. meanwhile big retailers such as m&s said a third of food products were now affected by complex new trade rules. its percy pig sweets, for example, are made in germany and so can't be re—exported without trade taxes or tariffs to stores in ireland, the czech republic and france. the government's acknowledged problems and issues. i expect that there will be additional disruption in the next few weeks, absolutely, but it's important we recognise that if government does everything that it can working with businesses then we can make sure that we do get to a new normal.

right now there's only two fifths of normal cross—channel lorry traffic. next week government expects a three or four—fold increase at the same time an informal grace period on some checks across the channel also ends. faisal islam, bbc news. 2020 was the joint hottest year on record, alongside 2016 — that's according to the european union's climate monitoring service. in the arctic, and parts of siberia especially, abnormally warm conditions lasted most of the year. globally the average temperature was 1.25 degrees celsius higher than during the pre—industrial period of 1850 to 1900. that's despite a 7% fall in fossil fuel burning due to the pandemic. it's the biggest mismatch in fa cup history. the non—league team marine will take on premier league's tottenham hotspur this sunday at their tiny home ground on merseyside. marine's team taking on spurs

will feature nhs workers, teachers and a refuse collector. 0ur sports correspondent andy swiss reports. dreaming of a football fairy tale. commentator: radford again — oh, what a goal! the fa cup's seen a few over the years. oh, what a goal, mickey thomas! but could marine top the lot? well, the merseysiders have all the ingredients. would you believe it? a last—gasp winner in the previous round from a striker who's a pe teacher, while their midfielder‘s a refuse collector now hoping to dump tottenham out of the cup. 0bviously seeing the likes of harry kane and mourinho and stuff, it's mad because you watch them on the telly week—in, week—out, you watch them play and then the next minute, you're playing against them. you're going up against them in real life. in fact, the gulf with jose mourinho's team is the biggest in fa cup history. tottenham are fourth in the premier league, whereas marine, well, you have to scroll down eight divisions to find them.